#Quarantine Saturday 1981 Bills hi-lights

[Augie]

13 minutes ago, Phil The Thrill said:

Im asking because Chuck Knox was coach of this 1981 football team.  I’m wondering why he left Buffalo and how much of an impact his departure had on the team.  It seemed that Kay the Head Coach was a colossal clusterfreak

 

It was one of many mistakes Ralph made, IMO. Kay was a huge disaster.

 

I just enjoyed watching the video of the old days. It was kind of a dark period (as in “going dark” not sad) in Bills history for me. I was in college out of state, there was no DTV or Sunday Ticket. You had to watch the highlights at halftime on Monday Night Football to see a little snippet of my beloved Bills. Years later, I would go to Chili’s for lunch on the day the USA Today sports section had a couple sentences about each team. I’m old, but I’m not ancient. It wasn’t that long ago that getting Bills info was very difficult. Plenty of other threads about that. 

 

@Chandler#81, thanks for the links to a bunch of good stuff I largely missed after leaving WNY. 

 

 

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Edited March 28, 2020 by Augie

[njbuff]

Joe Cribbs was a beast.

 

Such an underrated receiving threat out of the backfield.

 

I always thought Ferguson was an ok QB. And I always thought the Bills would never reach any heights with him as the QB.

[Phil The Thrill]

18 minutes ago, Chandler#81 said:

Then WhyTF are you asking? ? Google it.

Please stop.

Because I want opinions of Bills fans...not the facts.  I know the facts - just want some context and analysis.  Not many people are talking about Chuck Know or the 1981 Bills these days 

16 minutes ago, Augie said:

 

It was one of many mistakes Ralph made, IMO. Kay was a huge disaster.

 

I just enjoyed watching the video of the old days. It was kind of a dark period (as in “going dark” not sad) in Bills history for me. I was in college out of state, there was no DTV or Sunday Ticket. You had to watch the highlights at halftime on Monday Night Football to see a little snippet of my beloved Bills. Years later, I would go to Chili’s for lunch on the day the USA Today sports section had a couple sentences about each team. I’m old, but I’m not ancient. It wasn’t that long ago that getting Bills info was very difficult. Plenty of other threads about that. 

 

@Chandler#81, thanks for the links to a bunch of good stuff I largely missed after leaving WNY. 

 

 

.

Thanks - did Kay have a good reputation as an up-and-coming offensive mind or was he just a cheap hire to replace Knox?  Kind of like the hires of Craig Williams and Mike Mularkey?

[GRHater69]

Kay at the time was a surprise choice, even among the players. It was rumored that Ralph thought Knox was too conservative on offense and wanted to open things up. It was also rumored that Knox went into the '82 season upset with Ralph for trading away Cousineau. Then the strike happened and the team fell apart. I was dealing with some life issues a lot around that time, so my memories are foggy at best.

 

[RJ (not THAT RJ)]

Knox was a great coach but his teams (in LA and BUF especially) also had a bad habit of coming up flat at random times, and of having no luck in the playoffs.

 

The 1980 team was great, but twice collapsed against the Colts and also against the Falcons at home--a win in any of those games, and they would have been hosting a playoff game.

 

The 1981 team had horrific collapses in New York, Dallas, and St. Louis and blew an 11-point fourth quarter lead in Cincinnati, as well as a dismal performance in the season finale in Miami. It was as if something was missing in the team's character that kept them from getting higher when they had a chance to take that next step.

 

The total fold after the 1982 strike was a back-breaker all around. (Many other franchises struggled to get it back together that year.) Knox lost the team in that last month, and whatever disagreements he had with Ralph on an extension were a convenient reason to go somewhere else and start over. Stevenson was young and inexperienced. He inherited an aging team that nonetheless started well only to collapse in the second half of 1983 under the weight of age and injuries and contract drama around Joe Cribbs. 

 

And that was it until the Arrival of Jim Kelly

[WotAGuy]

“Hard Knox” by Chuck Knox is a good read, but he doesn’t get into the juicy backstories too much. 

[From Roc to Ky bills fan]

On 3/28/2020 at 10:54 AM, Royale with Cheese said:

I wasn’t even born yet.  Was this at the same time as your retirement party?

wow

[Phil The Thrill]

3 hours ago, RJ (not THAT RJ) said:

Knox was a great coach but his teams (in LA and BUF especially) also had a bad habit of coming up flat at random times, and of having no luck in the playoffs.

 

The 1980 team was great, but twice collapsed against the Colts and also against the Falcons at home--a win in any of those games, and they would have been hosting a playoff game.

 

The 1981 team had horrific collapses in New York, Dallas, and St. Louis and blew an 11-point fourth quarter lead in Cincinnati, as well as a dismal performance in the season finale in Miami. It was as if something was missing in the team's character that kept them from getting higher when they had a chance to take that next step.

 

The total fold after the 1982 strike was a back-breaker all around. (Many other franchises struggled to get it back together that year.) Knox lost the team in that last month, and whatever disagreements he had with Ralph on an extension were a convenient reason to go somewhere else and start over. Stevenson was young and inexperienced. He inherited an aging team that nonetheless started well only to collapse in the second half of 1983 under the weight of age and injuries and contract drama around Joe Cribbs. 

 

And that was it until the Arrival of Jim Kelly

So cool - thank you for the informative and respectful response.  I’ve often wondered about Chuck Knox and the circumstances to his leaving Buffalo.  This helps...much appreciation ??

[Big Turk]

Can we please stop inappropriately using the word quarantine? Last time I checked there were no armed guards stationed outside anyone's house to ensure there was nobody entering or exiting the premises.

[Chandler#81]

No, we can’t. Lighten up, Francis.

[SoCal Deek]

Have you watched the Embedded video narrated by Kyle Williams? I watched it yesterday on YouTube and was fascinated at the inside look at the Bills and all of the personalities. It was interesting to see some of the players who we now know are no longer with the team, less than a year later. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a great way to pass some quality ‘quarantine’ time. 

[Greg S]

Yesterday I watched the 1981 WC game vs the Jets at Shea. That was one of the most exciting Bills games ever played. Bill Simpson saves the day with an INT at the goal line with just seconds left stopping a furious Jets rally. I was at this game and I remember leaving Shea with a giant smile on my face looking at all of those disappointed Jets fans. This was also my first "heart attack" game that the Bills gave me. Up 24-0 in the 2nd Q and 31-13 in the 4th it never should have come down to a last second play. Thankfully they held on to win as that would have been a very painful loss if they didn't.

[GRHater69]

It should also be noted that as good as the team drafted in '79 and '80, the other drafts under Knox fell short. 3 of his number 1s in 5 years busted, Terry Miller '78, Booker Moore '81, Perry Tuttle '82. Booker Moore I'll give a pass to since developed an illness and missed his rookie year, but he never fully recovered to play worthy of his draft status. Plus some of the needed offensive line help never developed. You could argue that regime change and bad coaching probably hurt some the draftees as well. Bad drafting, too many contract disputes and the USFL really drove that team down. In '83 Fergy had Joe Cribbs, Jerry Butler and Frank Lewis. In '84 those players were either injured, gone to the USFL, or retired. It's no wonder they went 2-14.

 

 

 

[Chandler#81]

2 minutes ago, GRHater69 said:

It should also be noted that as good as the team drafted in '79 and '80, the other drafts under Knox fell short. 3 of his number 1s in 5 years busted, Terry Miller '78, Booker Moore '81, Perry Tuttle '82. Booker Moore I'll give a pass to since developed an illness and missed his rookie year, but he never fully recovered to play worthy of his draft status. Plus some of the needed offensive line help never developed. You could argue that regime change and bad coaching probably hurt some the draftees as well. Bad drafting, too many contract disputes and the USFL really drove that team down. In '83 Fergy had Joe Cribbs, Jerry Butler and Frank Lewis. In '84 those players were either injured, gone to the USFL, or retired. It's no wonder they went 2-14.

 

 

 

 Miller has a great rookie season. 1000 yrd rusher. He, imo, was less a bust and more victim of Joe Cribbs.

[GRHater69]

Miller had a bad sophomore season and ended up splitting time with Roland Hooks. If he was really that good, they wouldn't have needed to draft Cribbs.